Heart valve diseases are often treated by replacing the malfunctioning heart valve with a replacement valve implant. Heart valves that are replaced with replacement valve implants include the mitral valve, the aortic valve, the tricuspid valve, and the pulmonary valve, with the mitral valve and the aortic valve being the most commonly replaced valves. Typically, heart valves are replaced to address undesirable stenosis (i.e., narrowing) of a valve, or to correct regurgitation caused by an improperly functioning valve. One problem often requiring a valve replacement is mitral valve regurgitation. When the mitral valve is in a regurgitant condition, the mitral valve does not properly close, allowing oxygenated blood to flow backwards in the heart. As a result, blood is not moved as efficiently through the heart and the rest of the body, often leaving people with symptoms including shortness of breath, irregular heartbeats, and chest pain.
Before a replacement valve implant can be deployed, it must be properly positioned with respect to a targeted implanting location. Often, heart valve replacement procedures include a sternotomy performed in an open-heart-surgery. Less invasive procedures seek to access the target area by passing a catheter system through a patient's vasculature. When the vascular system of the patient is used, a catheter system may be inserted into an artery or vein percutaneously or through a small incision in the patient's body to allow the catheter system to be threaded through the patient's body to the target location. However, precise delivery of replacement heart valves remains a challenge due to the structure at or near the target location or due to the particular demands of the implant to be delivered. Additionally, some procedures may require a particular alignment and/or orientation of the implant to enable proper placement of the implant.
Further, while some catheter guiding systems adapted for use in other interventional cardiac procedures are available, there exist additional challenges that limit effective use of such catheter guiding systems for delivery and deployment of replacement valve implants. For example, compared to many other interventional cardiac procedures, the delivery and deployment of a replacement heart valve implant requires higher precision in positioning of the implant with respect to the targeted treatment area. In addition, replacement heart valve implants are often inherently bulkier than other interventional implant devices, increasing difficulties in steering and positioning of the replacement valve. Further, heart valve target areas can often be difficult to reach, requiring a relatively tortuous path and/or relatively high turn curvatures to obtain proper alignment and orientation of the delivered implant.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.